Health law expected to boost Medicaid enrollees in managed care

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: "HealthCare USA is one of dozens of private managed health care plans providing care to nearly half the nearly 50 million Americans on Medicaid, a state-federal program for the poor and disabled. That number is increasing. Beginning in 2014, an additional 16 million people will become eligible for Medicaid, under the new health care law. People with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,403 for an individual or $29,326 for a family of four in 2010) will qualify. Currently, eligibility varies greatly by state. In many cases, Medicaid recipients will be required by their home states to enroll in managed-care plans" (Galewitz, 11/12). Read the entire story.